The Pennsylvania Game Commission should share deer population estimates that have been kept from the public and change some elements of its deer management plan, but the plan is essentially sound, according to an independent audit.

The report released Tuesday found the controversial plan to be inefficient in its method of estimating deer counts and weak in communicating its goals to the public. But the Game Commission is operating within its mandate to manage wildlife for the benefit of all Pennsylvanians, the report said, and is correct in its claim that deer over-browsing is a serious problem.

The audit noted that with some exceptions the deer management plan is generally successful in controlling and stabilizing populations.

"I'm surprised at some of [the report's] findings," said state Rep. Dave Levdansky, D-Forward, chairman of the House Finance Committee and member of the Game and Fisheries Committee. "But I think it's a good analysis, a thorough review of deer management in the state and a place where we can begin working on ways to improve it."

Like other states, Pennsylvania manages white-tailed deer populations to control habitat degradation caused by over-browsing, to limit negative deer-human contact and for recreational hunting. The main tool for population control is the manipulation of hunting seasons and bag limits.

The audit was commissioned in 2008 after some hunters complained that the commission had reduced deer populations in some areas to levels unsatisfactory for recreational hunting.

The Wildlife Management Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based conservation organization, was paid $90,000 to conduct the study.

Game Commission Executive Director Carl Roe said the agency appreciates the "constructive criticism."

"The report also provides some opportunities to improve our deer management program," he said. "Some of the recommendations we can address easily, but some will require additional resources to be able to implement."

Mr. Levdansky said the Game Commission should accept the audit's recommendations and move quickly to implement them.

"I hear the hunters' concerns. I have the same concerns," he said. "I think the Game Commission should step up quickly to make some changes to increase the reporting rate and come up with a reliable estimate of how many deer we're killing."

Scot J. Williamson, leader of the team of biologists who conducted the review, said since 2002 the commission has tried to focus public attention on deer-human impacts and habitat degradation instead of population counts, while using internal deer-count estimates in designing policy goals.

The audit recommends the commission publish estimates of the deer herd population for each of the state's 22 Wildlife Management Units and explain how those numbers are derived.

"We went through their decisions to increase, decrease or stabilize deer populations in each [unit], then looked at the populations a year and two years afterward to see if they were meeting management objectives," Mr. Williamson said. "We went through 22 units and looked at every decision they made. ... In most cases, when they decided to make something happen, it happened."

An exception is in northcentral Pennsylvania, where the Game Commission lowered deer populations to improve forest health, but forest health has not improved, Mr. Williamson said.

Some hunters' groups who have opposed the management plan remain suspicious of the audit. Members of the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania, which challenged the management plan in court, declined to comment on the audit until they had time to review it.

"Predictable," Mike Maranche, of the Allegheny County Sportsmen's League, said after reading highlights of the audit. "They're pretty much biological accountants. There was no field study done [so] the audit report would be somewhat predetermined."

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